Before entering Gateway this year I was unsure if it was the path for me but after talking to my friends that did it last year I was convinced that it would be beneficial for my future.

I didn't take the traditional route to finding the placement I wanted, I was always interested in trying out the electrical trade so was aiming to find a company that was willing to take me for a taster day. However, my boss from my summer job at Nexus Services rang me up and told me about an electrical apprenticeship that was opening up at Des Scott Electrical, a company they work closely with. He put me in touch with the boss and I ended up handing in my CV there. A couple weeks later I went there for a job interview and brought forward the idea of doing a gateway placement there rather than trying for a job straight away. This worked well for both parties as it meant they could see how I worked and how well I got along with the team, whilst I got to see if the electrical pathway was the one for me and it gave me the opportunity to still see out my final year at high school. We agreed that this was the best way to do it and I soon started my time there, working as a casual labourer for them over the school holidays and then going there every Wednesday from the start of term 2

At Des Scott’s I get to help out doing a whole range of different electrical work, from work on dairy farms to new builds, there is a very wide range of work that they do there which is awesome because it opened my eyes to all the different types of work in the electrical trade

I am doing the Skills Organisation Gateway Electrical Programme and have a number of different units that I need to achieve before the end of the year, the majority of those are done in the classroom with a couple of them having a practical aspect where I take the booklet with me to my placement and get them to sign it off when I demonstrate the correct health and safety procedures or am using hand and power tools correctly

All of my assessments are posted away to Skills to be marked by a registered assessor and I am sent back the results

All of these units are counting towards future qualifications so I am getting a good headstart on my apprenticeship for next year